Winter Vacation is officially over and Tyler has returned back to school. It has been a busy three weeks of holidays, family, friends, baking, and just plain tomfoolery in this house. As much as I am really big on having a schedule, I’m really going to miss having my big guy around screwing it up. There will be no more 8 am leisurely wake-ups (if such a thing is even possible with a  4 month old), hot lunches for two, mom can so-and-so come over, or alarms going off while I’m in the shower because somebody wants to hurry and get their chores done so they can play video games. Despite publicly declaring (on day one, no less) that I wasn’t going to make, I did, and I actually enjoyed it most of the time.

This was my first long vacation as a Stay at Home Mom where I truly got to enjoy being home with my getting-older-every-minute big boy. Last winter break, I was pregnant and sort of checked out on life. In fact, the last two summers have been spent pregnant (RIP Angel baby) so vacation time for my boy was seriously lackluster. He may not have even noticed I was there….  Those of you with two or more close in age may sneer: so you were pregnant, so what? Yeah well you rock and I’m a wimp so needless to say this is my first real vacation as the kind of SAHM I want to be (not the lazy slob I turn into under the influence of hCG); the very reason I chucked it all (yep, so many job offers I tell ya…) to stay home.
What was really cool was getting to see my son blossom under a present and attentive mother (Yes, I’m talking about me). Especially after the craziness of Christmas was over and I could just breathe. Since Camden was born it has been really hard to get some quality time in with Tyler. The 8 year age difference doesn’t exactly help me out here. They are on just completely different programs. But maybe that’s just what it is like being a mom to two. Three weeks of vacation and a new scooter from Bad Dog (that’s his grandpa who rides Harleys plural and therefore is too cool to be called grandpa) got mom thinking of a great way to spend time with both of my guys for longer than Camden’s usual attention span: a daily walk. It turned out to be pure genius really; Camden got to get out and see the outside of our house which I imagine must be amazing to a 4 month old (he also snoozed through quite a bit of it) and mom and  brother both got some much-needed exercise. The January weather here was absolutely gorgeous and provided a perfect backdrop to it all. As it turned out,shockingly, Tyler didn’t need much convincing to move his body; he was just as restless being home everyday as the rest of us and riding his scooter on our short cul-de-sac just isn’t that fun. On the first walk I sweetened the pot by saying that we could walk to the park. The whole time I was expecting him to complain about his legs hurting or how hot it was or are we almost there gosh this is a long walk. But all I got were priceless images of him making awesome boy noises on his scooter. Weeeee!!

Weeeeee!!!

In true Tyler form he was over the park in 5 minutes so we made our way home surprisingly complaint-free even though the going-home route was almost completely uphill. Now I truly know the meaning of the whole it’s not the destination but the journey thing.

All of this...

...happened...

...in about 5 minutes. Time to Go!

The walk then became a daily thing for us. We all looked forward to it and even let dad in on the fun on his days off. We did mornings, afternoons, with the scooter, without the scooter, with dogs, without dogs, sometimes with action figures who always fly through the sky as Tyler runs ahead. Total Kairos moments that Momastery (love her!) was talking about. Nothing fancy or expensive or requiring gas or planning. Low-tech, completely free, and totally awesome.

Sometimes we follow the law....

You wanna walk all the way up there? I shoulda named him Jillian. As in Michaels.

The view from way-up-there

My guys

Hurry up mom!

Last night with back to school looming ominously on the horizon, Tyler and I, both agreeing how much fun we had during break and how much we will miss hanging out all day, had a brainstorming session on how we are going to fit our walks in on busy school days. He was the one who brought it up, *heart swelling with pride*. We hammered out a plan, mornings on weekends (after the Farmer’s market of course) and afternoons on weekdays,  but realistically I know that he will be tired from a long day at school and then there’s homework, dinner time, bath time, wind-down time, and early bedtimes to contend with. So Camden and I will be going out alone today, just in case. Little guy likes his walks too and if big boy is up for it we will do it twice. Because it just wouldn’t be the same walk without scooters and flying action figures. Weeee!